Engineered polypeptides and its application in the synthesis of tyrosine or tyrosine derivatives

An engineered polypeptide, which is a polypeptide of (a) or (b) below:

• (a) a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID No 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60, 62, 64, 66, 68, 70, 72, 74, 76, 78, 80, 82, 84, 86, 88, 90, 92, 94, 96, 98, 100, 102, 104, 106, 108, 110, 112, 114, 116, 118, 120, 122, 124, 126, 128, 130, 132, 134, 136, 138, 140, 142, 144, 146, 148, 150, 152, 154, 156, 158, 160, 162, 164, 166, 168, 170, 172, 174, 176, 178, 180, 182, 184, 186, 188, 190, 192, 194, 196, 198, 200, 202, 204, 206, 208, 210, 212, 214, 216, 218, 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, 230, 232, 234, 236, 238, 240, 242, 244, 246, 248, 250, 252, 254, 256, 258, 260, 262, 264, 266, 268, 270, 272, 274, 276, 278, 280, 282, 284, 286, 288, 290, 292, 294, 296, 298, 300, 302, 304, 306, 308;
• or
• (b) a polypeptide having tyrosine phenol-lyase activity, which comprises an amino acid sequence having (i) at least 80% sequence identity to one of the amino acid sequences recited in (a), and (ii) a substitution, deletion, addition or insertion of one or more amino acid residues relative to said one amino acid sequence recited in (a).

An engineered polypeptide that is, under suitable reaction conditions, capable of catalyzing the synthesis of L-tyrosine with greater stability and/or activity than the polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:

• 2, wherein L-tyrosine is produced in an enantiomeric excess of at least 90% more.